Ideals of the Russian Diaspora
Towards the 80th Anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church
Outside of Russia

The Russian diaspora gave universal Orthodoxy a whole galaxy
of profound, strictly-Orthodox theologians and ecclesiastical
writers. Among them are Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco
and Metropolitans Anthony, Anastassy and Philaret of blessed
memory, along with Archbishops Simon of Peking, Theophan of
Poltava, Averkii of Syracuse and Holy Trinity, Protopresbyter
Michael Pomazansky, Archimandrite Konstantin (Zaitsev), Hieromonk
Seraphim (Rose) and Protopriest Lev Lebedev and many others.

This article does not pretend to be a fundamental examination
of the theology of church authors of the Russian diaspora.
Still, in connection with the glorious 80th anniversary of
the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, marked in the year 2001,
one wishes to outline the world-view of the Russian diaspora
according to the works of some figures of the Russian Church
Abroad.

Most recently, the Russian reader gained access to the works
of one of the ideologues of the Russian diaspora, Archimandrite
Konstantin (Zaitsev). The books of his pre-monastic period,
now republished in Russia, first came out under the name of
Priest Kyrill Zaitsev.

The creative blossoming of Fr. Konstantin, who survived the
revolution, the civil war, refuge in China, the life of a
transient after World War II, came in the 1950's and 1960's.
During these years, Archimandrite Konstantin worked fruitfully
as a teacher in Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY,
and showed himself to be a talented writer, Orthodox publicist,
editor of Pravoslavnaya Rus (Orthodox Russia), Pravoslavniy
Put (Orthodox Way) and Orthodox Life. It was there,
in the pages of the church periodicals, that Fr. Konstantin
developed his own understanding of the historical Russia,
an understanding in concord with Church tradition. In fact,
the term historical Russia is most often seen
in the works of Archimandrite Konstantin.

The point of departure of the reasonings of Fr. Konstantin
was the thesis of approaching apostasy. The modern world,
which considers itself normal and natural, is perceived by
the Christian as de-Christianized humanity. The Christian
era has ended: apostasy has arrived! exclaims Fr. Konstantin
in one of his articles. The difference between the new
evil and the old is that before, mankind partook of evil in
the most varied ways. At the present time [1960's-1970'sAAK]
good is defaced, relativistic, it has lost its absolute value.
Along with the true faith, alongside Orthodoxy, a new, general
religion is arising, offering a general, very amorphous language
for those who have differing faiths. Mankinds attention
is concentrated on immediate spiritual experiences and intellectual
musings, while preparation and care for the life hereafter
is distanced, it falls away and disappears. Finally, it turns
out that we do not serve God, but we use God, as far as our
reason permits, for the fulfillment of goals we set for ourselves
within the framework of our temporal life. This is the mindset
of apostasy. That his how Christ is replaced.0Another
side of apostasy (deviation) is expressed at the end of history.
This, of course, is not the end of history of which F. Fukuyama
wrote. History has ended, averred Fr. Konstantin,
for he who restrained evil has departed from us, the
Russian Tsar Nicholas II is no more. The temporal world has
divided, has split in twonot into communism and the
free world, not bi-polarity, it is not the Cold War that determines
the fate of mankind. Then what does? On one side, evil in
the forms manifested in the 20th century, and on the other,
the seen and unseen, mystical Orthodox Church with Absolute
Love, Christ. In the opinion of Archimandrite Konstantin,
mankind as a whole cannot, and does not desire to, understand
the eschatological essence of eventsand continues to
live normally: life goes on, moving into some kind of eternity,
hopefully expanding! In other words, contemporary mankind,
as a whole, lives a lie!0 He who restrains evil from
this world, that is, the Russian Tsar, was a mystical point
where Divine Providence came into contact with historical
reality. The lie is contained in the premise that mankind
does not live for the sake of Christ, but for the sake of
its own egotism, concealing this lifestyle by belonging to
a Christian confession. Contemporary life is characterized
by a lukewarm attitude towards God, by individual efforts
towards salvation outside the Church. The historical
world is doomed, concluded the editor of Pravoslavnaya
Rus. It is finished. A new world is being formed.
This is in fact the striving towards the Antichrist!
At the same time, fatalism is foreign to Orthodox consciousness,
said Fr. Konstantin, confirming the tradition of the Holy
Fathers.0 What must Orthodox Christians do to find a worthy,
salvific response to general apostasy?In search of an answer,
Fr. Konstantin turned to the glorious past of Russia and of
the Russian Orthodox Church. Fr. Konstantin averred that salvation
is possible insofar as mankind is capable of repentantly returning
to Christ. This salvation will come from a renascent Russia.
Through rebirth, historical Russia will show itself to the
world.*

Revealing the meaning of historical Russia, the editor of
the journal wrote that one cannot imagine a renewed Russia
as arising from something novel, this was a pipe dream. One
can only speak of the restoration of a historical Russia within
its blessed Orthodox Russian-ness, adorned in the image of
an Orthodox Kingdom. Russia, in the process of disposing of
its historical consciousness, tossed off its pastits
blessed historical past, which bore the mark of the higher,
Divinely Providential care for the world, for mankind as a
whole: Russia was led by a Tsar, clothed not only as the anointed
of God, but he was His intended appointee, the image of the
restraining one, that is, the Tsar who in his person witnesses
the existence of Gods protection of mankind, fulfilling
its sacred obligation.0Consequently, Archimandrite Konstantin
saw at the center of historical Russia the restoration of
the Orthodox monarchy, not as a common institution of legitimate
power, but as a Divine instrument, restraining mankind from
the lordship of evil. The path to the restoration of the Orthodox
Monarchy lies within the phenomenon of Orthodox Russian-ness.
Fr. Konstantin understood by this term the striving
towards the True God, hidden in ones heart, genuine
worship of the True God, which would lead towards the
rebirth in Russia of faith with unexpected force. If Orthodox
rebirth gripped the Russian people in the USSR of the time,
thought Fr. Konstantin, then the Russian Orthodox Monarchy
would come to life once more, which would be able to fulfill
the function of the one who restrains.0It is apparent that
Fr. Konstantin bound the restoration of the Orthodox monarchy
with personal repentance, with personal salvation, with personal
faith. Apostasy is defeated first of all in the heart of a
Christian.In connection with the attempt to achieve the state
of historical Russia, Archimandrite Konstantin fairly clearly
designated the mission of the Russian diaspora, the main task
of the Russian Orthodox emigration. This duty is to preserve
the Church and live in the light of the truth of Christ, to
pray for Orthodox rebirth in the homeland. We, the children
of historical Russia scattered throughout the world,
wrote Fr. Konstantin, we are an organic commonality
of a sort. Within it we are hermetically sealed off from the
world around us. In this isolation is contained, albeit in
its early form, the task of Russian-ness. Preserving faith
in Christ within our boundaries, we do not only save our own
souls. We preserve ourselves for those paths that the Lord
deems fit for the salvation of Russia. Moreover, we open the
opportunity for the whole world that apostasized from Christ
to see the true faith with its own eyes.0Archbishop
Seraphim (Sobolev) also wrote of historical Russia. He was
consecrated into the episcopacy during the height of the civil
war, in 1919, becoming the vicar of Archbishop Theophan (Bystrov),
a monk with a lofty spirituality, a former spiritual father
to the Royal Family. Finding himself in Bulgaria, Vladyka
Seraphim was appointed by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian
Orthodox Church Abroad as heading the Russian Orthodox parishes
in that country. It is in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia that
he wrote Russian Ideology.*

Ruminating on the historical path of Russia and of the Russian
people, Archbishop Seraphim showed that the Orthodox faith
embraced the life of the Russian person in every way. In this
faith, in its absorption into daily life is the gist of Russian
ideology.* The term ideology, apparently, was
used by Vladyka not in the sense of a political paradigm,
but in the sense of the battle of the Russian people for self-consciousness,
of national and religious survival in conditions of reigning
atheism in Russia and the noticeable apostasy of the rest
of the world.Vladyka Seraphim viewed the rebirth of Russia
from the point of view of the restoration of the crumbled
forms of government and social life. The main rebirth must
be the absolute monarchy, which was in close unity with
the Russian Orthodox Church, witnessing this unity with its
protection of Orthodoxy from all her enemiesatheists,
heretics, schismatics and sectarians. By restoring the
monarchy, the Russian people will conduct an act of earnest
and profound repentance in the grievous sin committed in 1917
and the subsequent years in its violation of the oath given
at the Zemskii Sobor [Council of the Land] of 1613. In the
words of Vladyka Seraphim, the striving towards the
restoration of the Orthodox Monarchy exactly corresponds to
the true ideology of Russia, which is nothing other than the
Orthodox faith and the life of Russia established thereupon
in all its spheres, beginning with the personal and ending
with that of the state, for which reason the Russian state
must be headed by an absolute monarchial power.0 In
the event of such an Orthodox rebirth, Russia will once again
bring testimony to the world of the salvific significance
of the Orthodox faith, once again will declare the good news
of its Savior, Jesus Christ.

The eminent servant of the Church of Christ, the holy ascetic
of the Russian diaspora, Archbishop John (Maximovich) of Shanghai
and San Francisco, left a whole series of works, in which
he attempted to draw a parallel between the future rebirth
of Russia and the Russian past.

Without a doubt, St. John did not strive to idealize historical
Russia. In every single representative of a nation, evil continues
to battle good. Still, the moving force of the Russian people
was always Orthodoxy. Both family and social life were infused
with the spirit of the Gospel; world-views were developed
under the influence of church rules and traditions; civil
legislation accorded with the laws of the Church. Most importantlylifes
ideal for the Russian person was expressed as reaching for
holiness, as seeking out Gods truth, as the acquisition
of the Holy Spirit. The rulers of Rus, the grand dukes
and tsars, recognized their great duty before the Lord and
saw themselves as servants of God. That is why the Russian
tsars were tsars not by the will of the people,
but through Gods Mercy.*

The search for truth, wrote St. John in his article,
Russia, is the main thread throughout the
life of the Russian people. But not only those who were departing
from the world or from society gave thought to heaven, to
the Kingdom of Heaven, but all believing Russians understood
the meaning of life. Everyone who truly built Russia as a
state, living in the world and fulfilling their obligations
also recognized as most important to be faithful to the Divine
Kingdom and Divine Truth. In Russia there were princes, generals,
rulers, people of all classes and professions, but their fundamental
understanding and goal and meaning of life were the same:
the acquisition of the Kingdom of Heaven, to be joined with
it.0 Turning to the examination of the question of the
future rebirth of Russia, St. John, first of all, recalled
the heavy sin of regicide, the murder of the Royal Family.
Such crimes, said Archbishop John, do not
remain unpunished. They cry out to Heaven and invoke Gods
wrath upon the earth. Vladyka compared the murder of
Emperor Nicholas II with those of Princes Boris and Gleb,
Andrei Bogolubskii, Michael of Tver, Tsarevich Dimitry of
Uglich and Moscow. The Churchs glorification and the
peoples veneration of the murdered princes always led
to the cleansing of the nation and the Orthodox people. The
greatest sin of killing Emperor Nicholas II must be
corrected with the fervent veneration of him and the glorification
of his struggle. Then the Tsar-Martyr will gain boldness before
God, and his prayers will save the Russian land from her sorrows.0In
the peoples repentance and the purification of souls,
St. John saw the renewal of Russia, the return of Holy Rus.
The words of St. John resound with fervent belief and optimism:
Russia will arise as she stood before. She will arise
when her faith burns anew. She will emerge when her people
rise spiritually, when once again they hold dear to their
hearts the clear, firm faith in the truth of the words of
the Savior, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His
Truth and all else will come to you. Russia will arise,
when she again loves Orthodox saints and witnesses to the
truth.*

To what does St. John connect his hopes for civil rebirth
of a renewed Russia? The saint insists upon the renascence
of the spirit of life, the joy of life in Christ. Only by
being illuminated by this spirit of eternal life can Russia
speak of the truth of Orthodoxy to the rest of mankind, from
which the spirit of life departed, and it trembles as
from an earthquake. The spirit, and not the word, is
important. St. John spoke clearly of the monarchy: Russia
awaits the Christ-loving warrior, the Christ-loving Tsars
and leaders, who would lead the Russian people not towards
earthly glory, but for the truth of the Russian path.0Historical
Russia lives on as before, she did not remain behind, in the
past. This is not only an ideal, a dream to return what has
gone. This is an appeal to the holy strugglers of Rus,
to the thousands of New Martyrs of Russia, who stood on the
path of defending their insulted faith. This is a living,
prayerful, liturgical bond of our people with the Rus
in Heaven, with the Church Triumphant.Historical Russia lives
in the hearts of the Russian diaspora of today. In June 2001,
Pravoslavnaya Rus published an editorial Loyalty
to Historical Russia. This article convinces us that
until now, the ecclesiastical diapora lives in close connection
with the spirit of pre-revolutionary Russia, which is, in
the words of Archimandrite Konstantin (Zaitsev), the
foothold of Orthodoxy, and therefore of all Christianity,
all of creation.*